Manuscript Preparation - Math

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION - MATH

Authors of math-intensive articles are strongly urged to format their articles in LaTeX. This is particularly important if the articles contain numerous or complex equations.

Display Equations

To produce display equations--equations that sit by themselves on a line--use the Equation Editor included with Microsoft Word or WordPerfect.

In-line Math

To produce in-line math-small equations or single characters that appear within a line of regular text-you can insert the necessary characters like other normal text. If the desired math is too complex or not available as individual characters, then use Equation Editor.

For example, it is not necessary to use Equation Editor to put "x=q + 1" in a line of text. However, a more complex expression, such as , would require the Equation Editor.

Do not use Word's "fields" to insert equations or special symbols.

Special Characters

In any version of Word or WordPerfect, for Macintosh or Windows, the keyboard shortcuts for characters such as em-dashes, curly quotes, accented letters, and so on, are always acceptable.

For individual math symbols, Greek letters, and other special characters for which there is no keyboard shortcut, each version of Word or WordPerfect has an "Insert > Symbol" or "Insert > Character" command, which produces a chart of symbols from which you can choose.

In WordPerfect, if you choose "Insert > Symbol" or "Insert > Character", avoid symbols from the non-Western character sets (Cyrillic, Hebrew, Japanese, etc.).

In Word, if you choose "Insert > Symbol", choose characters only from the "normal text" font or the Symbol font. In Word for Windows, choose characters only from the Basic Latin and Latin-1 subsets in "normal text" or the Symbol font.

In any word processor, characters produced with non-Latin fonts other than Symbol (e.g., Mathematical Pi, Dingbats, etc.) may not convert properly.

If you must insert characters in a non-Latin font other than Symbol, please circle them on your printed manuscript.

Note that some characters, especially when seen on a computer screen, are easily confused: e.g., a German "double-ess" (ß) and a lowercase beta ( b ); or an apostrophe (’) and a prime symbol ( ′ ). Be sure to insert the character you want (and check your proofs carefully).